Update: BOLI has issued a new Oregon Minimum Wage poster. You can download the poster by clicking the link here. This poster needs to be placed in an area accessible to all employees.

The third of a series of Oregon minimum wage increases will occur on July 1, 2018, with annual increases scheduled annually through 2022. Here is a list of the scheduled increases going into effect this July 1, 2018 for each region.

A new Minimum Wage poster will be published by BOLI soon, and a link to that poster will be available on the Pacific HR website as soon as it is released. All Oregon employers need to place this poster in a location accessible to all employees

Be aware that Exempt employees in Oregon cannot have salary less than the current minimum wage. The current federal Exempt minimum salary threshold is $23,660 per year. However, Portland Metro area employers will need to ensure that all Exempt classified employees are receiving at least $24,960 ($12 per hour X 2080) per year as of July 1, 2018. This rate will continue to increase as the minimum wage continues to rise.

Use this link to see a schedule of all increases through 2022, and to use a look up tool to determine if your business is located within the Portland Urban Growth Boundary:

Effective June 7, 2018 Washington will join the growing number of states to enact "ban the box" legislation. The Washington Fair Chance Act prohibits Washington employers to obtain or request any criminal background information from candidates, until after the employer has determined that the candidate is otherwise qualified for the position. You can read the recently passed law here.

Some employers are exempt from this new requirement, such as law enforcement agencies & employers filling positions where the employee will have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults.

What Washington Employers Should Do Now:

Review job postings, to ensure they are not discouraging those with criminal records from applying. Terms such as "no felons" or "clean criminal record required" are to be avoided.

Do not inquire into or request criminal background information from a candidate, until after you have determined that the person is otherwise qualified for the job.

Remove all questions relating to a candidate's criminal background from Employment Applications.

The state wide rule does not legislate the actions an employer makes after it is determined that the candidate is otherwise qualified for the job. Be aware that the City of Seattle does have more expansive Fair Chance Ordinance, which requires those employers to consider additional information prior to disqualifying a person with a criminal record. City of Seattle Fair Chance Ordinance language can be found here.

Washington Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Leave2018

Minimum wage for the state of Washington will increase to $11.50 per hour, effective January 1, 2018. An initiative passed in November 2016 will require that the minimum wage increases over the next few years until it reaches $13.50 per hour in 2020. The initiative also allows paid sick time provisions which will go into effect on January 1, 2018. L&I has issued a new Your Rights as a Worker poster that must be placed in a location accessible to all employees.

OregonSaves

OregonSaves is a new retirement savings plan for workers in Oregon. The plan allows employees to make retirement savings contributions through workplace payroll deductions into their own personal Roth IRA. All Oregon businesses will be required to register with OregonSaves (according to the timeline outlined below), and businesses without a current employer-sponsored retirement savings plan will be required to administer retirement contributions through OregonSaves.

All Oregon Employers will be required to register with OregonSaves, based on this timeline:

100 or more employees: November 15, 2017

50 to 99 employees: May 15, 2018

20 to 49 employees: December 15, 2018

10 to 19 employees: May 15, 2019

5 to 9 employees: November 15, 2019

4 or fewer employees: May 15, 2020

After registering, business will be allowed to request an exemption from the program if they have a current employer-sponsored retirement savings plan, such as a 401(k) or SIMPLE IRA.

If an employer does not have a qualified retirement savings plan in place, or if they choose to voluntarily participate in the OregonSaves plan, then they are required to administer retirement savings deductions for their employees.

All employees will be automatically enrolled by the employer, unless they officially opt-out of the program.

Contributions start at 5% of earnings per pay period, and will automatically increase 1% per year, up to 10%. Employees may choose to elect a different % of earnings contribution.

Employers are not allowed to make contributions or “match” funds to the employee’s plan.

How to prepare:

· Employers should receive registration notification directly from OregonSaves prior to their required registration date. This notification will include instructions on how to register and program details

Any business with questions regarding the OregonSaves plan are urged to contact OregonSaves directly at clientservices@oregonsaves.com or 844-661-1256. Here is a link to the OregonSaves website, which includes FAQs on program details: www.oregonsaves.com.

Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017

The Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017 expands the current law’s protection against wage disparities among employees. The Act prohibits wage discrimination based on a protected class status, defined as race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability or age. This includes wages, bonuses, benefits and other forms of compensation.

The Act does allow business to provide different wages based on bona fide factors defined as:

· A seniority system

· A merit system

· A system that measures earnings by quality or quantity of production;

· Workplace locations;

· Travel (if necessary and regular for employee);

· Education;

· Training;

· Experience; or

· Any combination of these factors but only if that combination accounts for the entire compensation differential.

Most provisions of the Act go into effect on January 1, 2019. The Act does call for a required posting explaining Act provisions. BOLI will be providing a template posting at a later date.

Most urgently, the Act prohibits businesses from screening applicants based on salary history or seeking an applicant’s salary history. Oregon businesses shall not consider an applicant’s previous salary to determine hiring wage, nor request salary history from applicants. Businesses are allowed to confirm previous salary history, only after an offer of employment is issued and only if the candidate authorizes the request. The ban on considering or requesting salary history goes into effect on October 9, 2017. To prepare for this change, businesses should not request salary history in job posting language, or request that this information be provided on applications or as part of applicant screening.

WASHINGTON PAID SICK LEAVE

Washington Paid Sick Leave will go into effect on January 1, 2018. Here are some of the highlights:

Most Washington employers are required to provide Paid Sick Leave for all non-exempt Washington employees.

This rule applies to ALL non-exempt employees, full time, part time and temporary.

Employees are entitled to accrue 1 hour for every 40 hours worked. There is no cap on the amount of paid sick leave an employee may accrue. A typical full-time employee working 40 hours per week would accrue 52 hours of paid sick leave in a year.

Employers must allow employees to roll over up to 40 hours of unused Sick Leave from year to year.

Employees must be able to use accrued Paid Sick Leave as of the 90th day of employment.

Employees may use Paid Sick Leave:

To care for themselves or their family members.

When the employees’ workplace or their child's school or place of care has been closed by order of a public official for any health-related reason.

·For absences that qualify for leave under the state's Domestic Violence Leave Act.

Employers may allow employees to use Paid Sick Leave for additional purposes. PTO plans (time off available for sick or vacation) count towards Washington Paid Sick Leave Time. You do not need to add additional sick time off if your current plan meets the requirements.

Sick time does not need to be paid out at time of termination, unless you have a policy in place otherwise.

Employees can take Paid Sick Leave in one-hour increments, unless the business meets certain conditions.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO PREPARE:

Make sure your policies adhere to Washington Paid Sick Leave requirements, as of January 1, 2018.

Provide each employee notice of their current balance at least monthly. You can easily meet this requirement if you can print current time off balances on employee paychecks.

Stay tuned for more information regarding required notices and other conditions as they are revealed later this year.

New I-9 Verification Form - Effective 9/18/17

U.S Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued ANOTHER revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. This revised form must be used with all newly hired employees as of September 18, 2017. Please be sure to replace your old I-9 form with the new version prior to that date. You do not need to have current employees fill out the new form, as it just needs to be used with new hires going forward. Remember to ensure that all new employees fill out the I-9 form on the first day of employment, and present appropriate verification identification within 3 business days.

Does it feel like you just replaced your I-9s with an updated version? Well, yes, you did. USCIS did issue a revised Form I-9 last year, which all employers needed to have in place by January 22, 2017, but has issued an additional revision which includes some slightly revised language, and a few changes to the List C documents. To make matters even more confusing, both the January revision and the newest revision have the same “expires by” date of 8/31/19. The new form can be identified by the notation “Form I-907/17/17 N” in the bottom left corner.

The Department of Labor was to enact new FLSA exempt standards as of December 1, 2016. The most significant aspect of this change was to be an increase in the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees to $47,476 per year.

On November 22, 2016 a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction essentially blocking the change from going into effect nationwide. This means that employers DO NOT need to meet the new minimum salary threshold for exempt employees as of December 1, 2016.

What does this mean for employers?

· Exempt employees still need to meet the current minimum salary threshold of $23,660 per year, and need to meet the classification standards outlined by the FLSA.

· The increased salary threshold may be implemented later. Or, the new rules may be cancelled altogether. Or, a new set of FLSA standards may be implemented. We just don’t know at this point.

· Remember that you are always able to classify an employee as non-exempt, thus making them eligible for overtime. If you had converted employees to non-exempt status in anticipation of the rule change you are welcome to keep them in that status. Or, you could choose to reclassify them as exempt if you feel they meet the current FLSA standards.

The City of Portland has passed expanded “Ban-the-Box” legislation, which goes into effect July 1, 2016. This new Ordinance applies to:

· Employers with 6 or more employees AND

· at least one individual working the majority of the time in the City of Portland

The new Ordinance prohibits Portland employers from soliciting or processing criminal background information from applicants before a “conditional offer of employment” is made. Once the offer is submitted, employers may conduct criminal background checks and must then make an “Individualized Assessment” of the history considering the nature and gravity of the criminal offense, the time that has elapsed since the criminal offense took place, the nature of the employment held or sought. There are exceptions in place for employees working with sensitive populations and other heightened safety concerns.

If you are Portland employer conducting criminal background checks, here’s what you need to do:

· Make sure you have eliminated “do you have a criminal history” type questions from applications & interview processes

· Ensure you are using written offer letters, with language specifying conditional offer requirements

· Address criminal history results on a case by case bases, using the Individualized Assessment guidelines

· If an offer of employment is rescinded due to criminal history, notify the applicant in writing with specifics regarding the reason for the decision

Oregon Paid Sick Leave will go into effect on January 1, 2016. Here are some of the highlights:

Employers with 10 or more workers are required to provide paid sick leave for all Oregon employees. (City of Portland employers must still provide paid sick leave if they have 6 or more employees).

Employees are entitled to accrue 1 hour for every 30 hours worked (equivalent of 1.33 hours for each 40 hours worked), up to 40 hours per year. Employers can cap use of paid sick leave at 40 hours per year.

Employers must allow employees to roll over up to 40 hours of unused sick time from year to year, UNLESS they opt to “front load” 40 hours per year and pay out unused time at the end of each year. Employers are allowed to cap total accrual at 80 hours.

Employees can begin accruing sick time at time of hire, and are allowed to start using paid sick time after 90 days of employment.

This rule applies to ALL employees, full time, part time and temporary. (The 240 hour rule from Portland Sick Time Off has been eliminated).

PTO plans (time off available for sick or vacation) count towards Oregon Paid Sick Leave. You do not need to add additional sick time off if your current plan meets the requirements.

Sick time does not need to be paid out at time of termination, unless you have a policy in place otherwise.

Employees can take sick time in one hour increments, unless the business meets certain conditions.

Businesses with less than 10 employees (or 6 in Portland) must make an equivalent amount of time off available to all employees, but it may be unpaid.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO PREPARE:

Make sure your policies adhere to Oregon Paid Sick Leave requirements, as of January 1, 2016.

Provide each employee notice of their current balance at least quarterly. You can easily meet this requirement if you can print current time off balances on employee paychecks.